Use blank() and filled() Instead of empty() in Laravel

PHP's empty() treats 0, '0', and false as empty. Laravel's blank() and filled() helpers handle these values intuitively without silent bugs.

PHP's native empty() is notoriously loose: it considers 0, '0', and false as empty, causing subtle bugs when validating quantities, scores, or boolean toggles.

Laravel provides blank() and filled() as intuitive, string-trimmed alternatives.

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Comparison Matrix

// PHP empty() pitfalls:
empty(0);       // true  (oops: 0 is a valid quantity!)
empty('0');     // true  (oops: '0' is a valid string!)
empty('   ');   // false (whitespace is NOT considered empty by PHP)

// Laravel blank():
blank(0);       // false (0 is a real value)
blank('0');     // false ('0' is a real value)
blank('   ');   // true  (automatically trims whitespace)
blank('');      // true
blank(null);    // true
blank([]);      // true

// Laravel filled() (exact inverse of blank()):
filled(0);      // true
filled('hello');// true
filled('   ');  // false

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Usage in Controllers

// Clean validation without false positives on 0
if (blank($request->input('score'))) {
    return response()->json(['error' => 'Score is required'], 422);
}